AR-15 style rifle

AR-15 style rifles come in many sizes and have many options, depending on the manufacturer. The part shown bottom center is the lower receiver without the receiver extension, rear takedown pin, and buttstock.

An AR-15 style rifle is a lightweight semi-automaticrifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. After Colt's patents expired in 1977,[1] an expanded marketplace emerged with many manufacturers producing their own version of the AR-15 design for commercial sale. They are referred to as modern sporting rifles by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association, and by some manufacturers.[2] Coverage of high-profile incidents where various versions of the rifle were involved often uses the shorthand AR-15.[3]

Terminology

In 1956, ArmaLite designed a lightweight assault rifle for military use and designated it the ArmaLite Rifle-15, or AR-15.[7][8] Due to financial problems, and limitations in terms of manpower and production capacity, ArmaLite sold the design and the AR-15 trademark along with the ArmaLite AR-10 to Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1959.[9] In 1964, Colt began selling its own version with an improved semi-automatic design known as the Colt AR-15.[10] After Colt's patents expired in 1977, an active marketplace emerged for other manufacturers to produce and sell their own semi-automatic AR-15 style rifles.[1] Some versions of the AR-15 were classified as "assault weapons" and banned under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.[5][11]

In 2009, the term "modern sporting rifle" was coined by the National Shooting Sports Foundation for its survey that year as a marketing term used by the firearms industry to describe modular semi-automatic rifles including AR-15s.[12][13][14][15] Today, nearly every major firearm manufacturer produces its own generic AR-15 style rifle.[16][14] As Colt continues to own and use the AR-15 trademark for its line of AR-15 variants, other manufacturers must use their own model numbers and names to market their AR-15 style rifles for commercial sale.[17]

Modularity

While most earlier breech-loading rifles had a single receiver housing both the trigger and reloading mechanism, an innovative feature of the AR-15 was modular construction to simplify substitution of parts and avoid need for arsenal facilities for most repairs of malfunctioning military rifles.[18] A distinctive two-part receiver is used by both military and sporting AR-15 style rifles. As civilian ownership of AR-15 style rifles became sufficient to create a market for improvements, numerous manufacturers began producing one or more "improved" modules, assemblies, or parts with features not found on factory rifles; and individuals with average mechanical aptitude can often substitute these pieces for original equipment. Due to the vast assortment of aftermarket parts and accessories available, AR-15 style rifles have also been referred to as "the Swiss Army knife of rifles",[19] "Barbie Dolls for Guys"[20][21][22] or "LEGOs" for adults.[23][24][25] These more or less interchangeable modules are a defining characteristic of AR-15 style modern sporting rifles.[26]

The lower receiver is the serial-numbered part legally defined as the firearm under United States law. The lower receiver is visually distinguished by the trigger guard ahead of the detachable pistol grip, and behind the magazine well capable of holding detachable magazines. The lower receiver holds the trigger assembly including the hammer, and is the attachment point for the buttstock. The lower receiver is attached to the upper receiver by two removable pins. Disassembly for cleaning or repair of malfunctions often requires removal of these pins. Removal of the rear take-down pin allows the receiver to be opened by rotation around the forward pivot pin as a hinge.[18]

The upper receiver contains the bolt carrier assembly, and is attached to the barrel assembly. Sights will be attached to the upper receiver or to the barrel assembly. A handguard usually encloses the barrel and a gas-operated reloading device using burnt powder gas vented from a hole (or port) in the barrel near the forward end of the handguard. The handguard is attached to the upper receiver and may also be attached to the barrel.[18]

The initial design included a tube to vent burnt powder gas back into the bolt carrier assembly where it expands in a variable volume chamber forcing the bolt open to eject the spent cartridge case. A buffer spring in the buttstock then pushes the bolt closed picking up a new cartridge from the magazine. This direct gas impingement (DGI) system has the disadvantage of venting unburned smokeless powder residue into the receiver where it may ultimately accumulate in quantities causing malfunctions. A more recent alternative design has a metal operating rod pushing against the bolt carrier from a gas piston under the handguard near the barrel port. This piston keeps the receiver cleaner by exhausting under the handguard.[27] While both the DGI and piston systems produce semi-automatic fire, an alternative unported barrel assembly includes a sliding handguard connected to a rod moving the bolt by a pump action and eliminating semi-automatic fire.[28]

Most rifles eject spent cartridges from the right side of the receiver away from right handed shooters who place the butt against the right shoulder while sighting with the right eye and using a finger of the right hand to pull the trigger.[29] Right-side ejection is a disadvantage for the third of the population whose left eye is dominant,[30] and for the tenth of the population who are left handed,[31] because holding these rifles against their left shoulder for maximum accuracy causes the rifle to eject hot spent cases toward the chest, neck or face of a left handed shooter.[32] The modular design of AR-15 style rifles has encouraged several manufacturers to offer specialized parts including leftward ejecting upper receivers for converting right handed AR-15 style rifles for left handed use.[33][34][35]

Some AR-15-style rifles have features limiting use of detachable magazines to comply with state regulations.[36][37] A few unusual versions are incapable of semi-automatic fire.[28][38] Nearly all versions of the civilian AR-15 have a pistol grip like the military versions, and some have folding or collapsible stocks like the M4 carbine which reduce the overall length of the rifle.

Comparison to military versions

The semi-automatic civilian AR-15 was introduced by Colt in 1963. The primary distinction between civilian semi-automatic rifles and military models is select fire. Military models were produced with firing modes, semi-automatic fire and either fully automatic fire mode or burst fire mode, in which the rifle fires three rounds in succession when the trigger is depressed. Most components are interchangeable between semi-auto and select fire rifles including magazines, sights, upper receiver, barrels and accessories.[39][40] The military M4 carbine typically uses a 14.5" barrel. Civilian rifles commonly have 16 inch or longer barrels to comply with the National Firearms Act.[41]

In order to prevent a civilian semi-automatic AR-15 from being readily converted for use with the select fire components a number of features were changed. Parts changed include the lower receiver, bolt carrier, hammer, trigger, disconnector, and safety/mode selector. The semi-automatic bolt carrier has a longer lightening slot to prevent the bolt's engagement with an automatic sear. Due to a decrease in mass the buffer spring is heavier. On the select fire version, the hammer has an extra spur which interacts with the additional auto-sear that holds it back until the bolt carrier group is fully in battery, when automatic fire is selected.[42] Using a portion of the select fire parts in a semi-automatic rifle will not enable a select fire option.[43] As designed by Colt the pins supporting the semi-auto trigger and hammer in the lower receiver are larger than those used in the military rifle to prevent interchangeability between semi-automatic and select fire components.[44]

Production and sales

The first version produced for commercial sale by Colt was the AR-15 Sporter, in .223 Remington, with a 20-inch barrel and issued with 5-round magazines.[10] Initial sales of the Colt AR-15 were slow, primarily due to its fixed sights and carry handle that made scopes difficult to mount and awkward to use.[45]

In the 1990s, sales of AR-15 style rifles increased dramatically, partly as a result of the introduction of the flat top upper receiver which allowed scopes and sighting devices to be easily mounted as well as new features such as free floating hand guards that increased accuracy.[45] While only a handful of companies were manufacturing these rifles in 1994, by the 21st century the number of AR-15 style rifles had more than doubled.[46] From 2000 to 2015, the number of manufacturers of AR-15 style variants and knock-offs increased from 29 to about 500.[47] Today, AR-15 style rifles are available in a wide range of configurations and calibers from a large number of manufacturers. These configurations range from standard full-sizes rifles with 20 inch barrels, to short carbine-length models with 16 inch barrels, adjustable length stocks and optical sights, to long range target models with 24 inch barrels, bipods and high-powered scopes.[48]

Estimates vary as to how many of the rifles are owned in the United States. The National Shooting Sports Foundation has estimated that approximately 5 million to 10 million AR-15 style rifles exist in the U.S. within the broader total of the 300 million firearms owned by Americans.[49]

Hunting

Some hunters prefer using AR-15 style rifles because of their versatility, accuracy, and wide variety of available features.[50] Collapsible stocks are convenient for hunters who pack their rifles into remote hunting locations.[51] Construction with lightweight polymers and corrosion-resistant alloys makes these rifles preferred for hunting in moist environments with less concern about rusting or warping wood stocks. Positioning of the AR-15 safety is an improvement over traditional bolt action hunting rifles. Many states require hunters to use reduced-capacity magazines,[52] but the self-loading feature is important when shooting pack animals like coyote so several may be killed before the pack disperses and hides. If a hunter misses with a first shot, the self-loading feature enables rapid followup shots against dangerous animals like feral pigs or rapidly moving animals like jackrabbits.[50] Hunters shooting larger game animals often use upper receivers and barrels adapted for larger cartridges or heavier bullets. Several states consider .22 caliber cartridges like the 5.56×45mm NATO inadequate to ensure a clean kill.[53][54][55]

Cartridge variations

Since the upper and lower receivers may be swapped between rifles, forensic firearm examination of bullets and spent cartridges may reveal distinguishing marks from the barrel and upper receiver group without identifying the lower receiver for which legal records may be available.[56] An individual may use several upper receiver groups with the same lower receiver. These upper receiver groups may have differing barrel lengths and sights, and may fire different cartridges. A hunter with a single lower receiver might have one upper receiver with a .223 Remington barrel and telescopic sight for varmint hunting in open country and another upper receiver with a .458 SOCOM barrel and iron sights for big-game hunting in brushy woodland. The dimensions of upper and lower receivers originally designed for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge impose an overall length limit and diameter limits when adapting modules for other cartridges included in this list of AR platform calibers.[57][48] The same magazine in the lower receiver group may hold differing numbers of different cartridges.[27]

^ ab"DPMS Founder and President Retires". The Outdoor Wire Digital Network. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2013. Luth's quest to introduce the hunting market to the AR platform was recognized in January 2009 when he was named to the Outdoor Life's OL-25, and later chosen by online voters as the OL-25 "Reader's Choice" recipient. The recent campaign by the NSSF to educate hunters everywhere about the "modern sporting rifle" can be directly attributed to Luth's push to make AR rifles acceptable firearms in the field, the woods and on the range.

^O’Dea, Meghan (June 13, 2016). "What Makes the AR-15 So Appealing to Mass Shooters?". Fortune. Retrieved February 15, 2018. While Colt alone makes the official AR-15, variants and knock-offs are made by a huge number of gun manufactures, including Bushmaster, Les Baer, Remington, Smith & Wesson (swhc, +0.00%), and Sturm & Ruger (rgr, -2.04%), just to name a few. TacticalRetailer claims that from 2000 to 2015 the AR manufacturing sector expanded from 29 AR makers to about 500, “a stunning 1,700% increase.”

^ ab"In Many U.S. States, 18 Is Old Enough to Buy a Semiautomatic". CBS News. The Associated Press. February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018. On average, more than 13,000 people are killed each year in the United States by guns, and most of those incidents involve handguns while a tiny fraction involve an AR-style firearm. Still, the AR plays an oversized role in many of the most high-profile shootings...

1.
Receiver (firearms)
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For the purposes of United States law, the receiver or frame is legally the firearm, and as such it is the controlled part. The definition of assembly is the legal receiver varies from firearm to firearm. For an AR-15 rifle, the assembly is considered the legal receiver. In a rifle such as the FN-FAL, it is the receiver that is serialized. For a FAL rifle, the assembly is considered the legal receiver. Generally, the law requires licensed manufacturers and importers to mark the designated receiver with a number, the manufacturer or importer. In addition, makers of receivers are restricted by International Traffic in Arms Regulations, thus, in the case of a firearm that has multiple receivers, the legally controlled part is the one that is serialized. Unfinished receivers, also called 80 percent receivers or blanks, are partially completed receivers with no serial numbers, purchasers must perform their own finishing work in order to make the receiver usable. The finishing of receivers for sale or distribution by unlicensed persons is against US law, because an unfinished 80% receiver is not a firearm, purchasers do not need to pass a background check. The resulting firearm is called a ghost gun. An AR-15 variant made from an 80% receiver was used in the 2013 Santa Monica shooting, two 3D printed polymer lower receivers for the AR-15 have been released, the AR Lower V5 and the Charon

2.
Semi-automatic rifle
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A semi-automatic rifle is a self-loading rifle that fires a single round each time the trigger is pulled. In contrast, an automatic rifle continuously fires rounds as long as the trigger is pressed. The ability to load the next round allowed for an increase in the rounds per minute the operator could fire. These rifles are known as self-loading rifles or auto-loading rifles and are often mistaken for automatic rifles or machine guns. Self-loading rifles were one of the most revolutionary designs in the history of warfare and they can be efficiently fed by en-bloc clip and internal magazine, detachable magazine or a combination of stripper clip and internal magazine. The first successful design for a rifle is attributed to German-born gunsmith Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher. The Model 85 was followed by the equally innovative Mannlicher Models 91,93 and 95 semi-automatic rifles.5 mm ammunition that were fed into the M1894 by a stripper clip. The Auto-5 relied on long recoil operation, this remained the dominant form in semi-automatic shotguns for approximately 50 years. Production of the Auto-5 was finally ended in 1999, in 1903 and 1905, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company introduced the first semi-automatic rimfire and centerfire rifles designed especially for the civilian market. The Winchester Model 1903 and Winchester Model 1905 operated on the principle of blowback in order to function semi-automatically, johnson, the Model 1903 achieved commercial success and continued to be manufactured until 1932 when the Winchester Model 63 replaced it. Winchester introduced a medium caliber semi-automatic rifle, the Model 1907 as an upgrade to the Model 1905, utilizing a system of operation. Both the Models of 1905 and 1907 saw limited military and police use, in 1906, Remington Arms introduced the Remington Auto-loading Repeating Rifle. Remington advertised this rifle, renamed the Model 8 in 1911 and this is a locked-breech, long recoil action designed by John Browning. The Model 81 superseded the Model 8 in 1936 and was offered in.300 Savage as well as the original Remington calibers, the first semi-automatic rifle adopted and widely issued by a major military power was the Fusil Automatique Modele 1917. This is a breech, gas-operated action which is very similar in its mechanical principles to the future M1 Garand in the United States. The M1917 was fielded during the stages of WWI but it did not receive a favorable reception. However its shortened and improved version, the Model 1918, gave complete satisfaction during the Moroccan Rif War from 1920 to 1926, the Lebel bolt-action rifle remained the standard French infantry rifle until replaced in 1936 by the MAS-36 despite the various semi-automatic rifles designed between 1918 and 1935. In 1937, the American M1 Garand was the first semi-automatic rifle to replace its nations bolt-action rifle as the infantry weapon

3.
Rifle
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A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called lands, which contact with the projectile. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling and this allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word rifle originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a rifled gun, the word rifle is now used for any long hand-held aimed device activated by a trigger, such as Air rifles and the Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports, formerly, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze, some fire in an automatic mode. Thus, modern automatic rifles overlap to some extent in design, in fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs. A militarys light machine guns are chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between a rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally belt-fed, many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from a bolt in order to reduce the danger of cook-off. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier, the rifle is an individual weapon, the term rifle is sometimes used to describe larger crew-served rifled weapons firing explosive shells, for example, recoilless rifles. In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, the origins of rifling are difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to have occurred in Europe during the 15th century. Archers had long realized that a twist added to the feathers of their arrows gave them greater accuracy. This might also have led to a increase in accuracy. Rifles were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smooth bore muskets, the black powder used in early muzzle-loading rifles quickly fouled the barrel, making loading slower and more difficult. Since musketeers could not afford to take the time to stop and clean their barrels in the middle of a battle, rifles were limited to use by sharpshooters, muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle

4.
Colt AR-15
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The Colt AR-15 is a lightweight,5. 56×45mm, magazine-fed, air-cooled semi-automatic, gas-operated rifle with a rotating bolt. It was designed to be manufactured with the use of aluminum alloys. Introduced in 1964, Colt has made many different types of AR-15 rifle and carbine models, including the AR-15, AR-15A2, AR-15A3, Sporter, HBAR, Government, Target, Match and it is based on the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle, a select-fire weapon intended for military sales. In 1959, ArmaLite sold the design to Colt due to financial difficulties, after some modifications, the rifle eventually became the United States military M16 rifle. Shortly thereafter, Colt began to make semi-automatic versions for civilian sales, the term AR-15 is a Colt registered trademark, which they use to denote only the semi-automatic rifle versions available for civilian and law enforcement sales. The term AR-15 signifies Armalite rifle, design 15, other manufacturers make AR-15 clones and variants marketed under separate designations, although these are frequently referred to as AR-15s. This article discusses the semiautomatic version manufactured by Colt, the Colt AR-15 is based on the 5.56 mm ArmaLite AR-15 rifle, which is a smaller lighter version of the 7.62 mm ArmaLite AR-10. Both of these rifles were designed by Eugene Stoner, Robert Fremont, in 1959, ArmaLite sold its rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 to Colt. After a Far East tour, Colt made its first sale of Colt made ArmaLite AR-15 rifles to Malaya on September 30,1959, Colt manufactured their first batch of 300 select-fire Colt ArmaLite AR-15 Model 01 rifles in December 1959. Colt marketed the Colt made ArmaLite AR-15 rifle to various military services around the world, after modifications, the new redesigned rifle was adopted by the United States military as the M16 rifle. Most Colt ArmaLite AR-15 rifles in U. S. service have long ago been upgraded to M16 rifle configuration, Colt continued to use the AR-15 trademark for its semi-automatic variants that were marketed to civilian and law-enforcement customers. The original AR-15 was a lightweight weapon, weighing less than 6 pounds with empty magazine. Later heavy-barrel versions of the civilian AR-15 can weigh upwards of 8.5 lb, patent 2,951,424 describes the cycling mechanism used in the original AR-15. The bolt carrier acts as a cylinder and the bolt itself acts as a stationary piston. This mechanism is called direct gas impingement, although it differs from prior gas systems. Stoner did not consider the AR-15 to be a direct impingement mechanism. Gas is tapped from the barrel as the bullet moves past a gas port located above the front sight base. The gas expands into the port and down a gas tube, here, the gas tube protrudes into a gas key, which accepts the gas and funnels it into the bolt carrier

5.
Patent
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A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. An invention is a solution to a technological problem and is a product or a process. Patents are a form of intellectual property, the procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific property right and these claims must meet relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness. Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country, the word patent originates from the Latin patere, which means to lay open. More directly, it is a version of the term letters patent. Similar grants included land patents, which were land grants by early state governments in the USA, and printing patents, a precursor of modern copyright. In modern usage, the term patent usually refers to the granted to anyone who invents any new, useful. The additional qualification utility patent is used to distinguish the primary meaning from these other types of patents. Particular species of patents for inventions include biological patents, business method patents, chemical patents, the period of protection was 10 years. These were mostly in the field of glass making, as Venetians emigrated, they sought similar patent protection in their new homes. This led to the diffusion of patent systems to other countries, by the 16th century, the English Crown would habitually abuse the granting of letters patent for monopolies. After public outcry, King James I of England was forced to revoke all existing monopolies, the Statute became the foundation for later developments in patent law in England and elsewhere. Important developments in patent law emerged during the 18th century through a process of judicial interpretation of the law. During the reign of Queen Anne, patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention for public access. Influenced by the philosophy of John Locke, the granting of patents began to be viewed as a form of property right. The English legal system became the foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand, in the Thirteen Colonies, inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colonys legislature

6.
National Shooting Sports Foundation
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The National Shooting Sports Foundation is an American national trade association for the firearms industry that is based in Newtown, Connecticut. Formed in 1961, the organization has more than 8,000 members, firearms manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmens clubs, the NSSF mission is To promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. In addition to promoting gun ownership and the sports, the NSSF helps write safety. The NSSF sponsors the annual Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, the NSSF has advocated specific positions on gun rights, including arguing against limits on high capacity magazines and the broad use of the term assault weapon. SHOT Business is the publication of the NSSF, doug Painter, a former NSSF president, was featured in a video released by the group in 2009. According to the Sunlight Foundation, the NSSF spent $1.7 million on lobbying efforts from 1998 to 2012, the NSSF launched its voter education website Gunvote in 2012. The largest gun show in the United States is the annual SHOT Show and it attracted over 60,000 attendees to its 630,000 square feet of exhibition space in Las Vegas. It is among the top 25 trade shows in the country, the state of Connecticut has a long history in the manufacture of guns, going back to Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt. Since 2000, as the national interest in hunting has declined according to one report, in that context, NSSF has concentrated on marketing semi-automatic rifles. Between 2000 and 2003 the Federal Trade Commission conducted an anti-trust investigation of gun industry players including the NSSF and it was alleged that they were boycotting Smith & Wesson due to that companys agreement with the Clinton administration to require background checks on purchasers and provide gun locks. The probe was suspended in 2003 by the Bush administration, with the NSSFs general counsel claiming it had been politically motivated and our very home as the NSSF. To meet the National Shooting Sports Foundations criteria of a Five Star facility, ranges are rated on appearance, management, customer service, amenities, customer development and community relations. The first range to receive this distinction was H&H Shooting Sports in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the NSSF supported the Bipartisan Sportsmens Act of 2014. National Rifle Association HuntandShoot. org NSSF Facebook NSSF Twitter

7.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946

8.
National Rifle Association
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The National Rifle Association of America is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun rights. Founded in 1871, the group has informed its members about firearm-related bills since 1934 and it is also the oldest continuously operating civil rights organization in the United States. Founded to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA continues to teach firearm competency and it instructs civilians and law enforcement, youths and adults, in various programs. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events, membership surpassed 5 million in May 2013. Observers and lawmakers see the NRA as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington, over its history the organization has influenced legislation, participated in or initiated lawsuits, and endorsed or opposed various candidates. The NRA has several subsidiaries, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, the NRA Foundation Inc. the NRA Special Contribution Fund. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action is its lobbying arm, which manages its political action committee, the National Rifle Association was first chartered in the state of New York on November 16,1871 by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and Captain George Wood Wingate. On November 25,1871, the group voted to elect its first corporate officers, union Army Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who had worked as a Rhode Island gunsmith, was elected president. Church was elected president, Captain Wingate was elected secretary, Fred M. Peck was elected recording secretary. When Burnside resigned on August 1,1872, Church succeeded him as president, the generals attributed this to the use of volley tactics, devised for earlier, less accurate smoothbore muskets. Recognizing a need for training, Wingate sent emissaries to Canada, Britain and Germany to observe militia. With plans provided by Wingate, the New York Legislature funded the construction of a range at Creedmoor, Long Island. The range officially opened on June 21,1873, Wingate then wrote a marksmanship manual. The NRA organized a team through a subsidiary amateur rifle club, remington Arms and Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company produced breech-loading weapons for the team. Although muzzle-loading rifles had long been considered more accurate, eight American riflemen won the match firing breech-loading rifles, publicity of the event generated by the New York Herald helped to establish breech-loading firearms as suitable for military marksmanship training, and promoted the NRA to national prominence. The NRA organized rifle clubs in other states, and many state National Guard organizations sought NRA advice to improve members marksmanship, wingates markmanship manual evolved into the United States Army marksmanship instruction program. Former President Ulysses S. Grant served as the NRAs eighth President, the U. S. Congress created the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice in 1901 to include representatives from the NRA, National Guard, and United States military services. A program of annual rifle and pistol competitions was authorized, and included a national match open to military, NRA headquarters moved to Washington, D. C. to facilitate the organizations advocacy efforts

9.
Federal Assault Weapons Ban
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The ten-year ban was passed by the U. S. Congress on September 13,1994, following a close 52-48 vote in the Senate, and signed into law by then President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the bans enactment, several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by reviewing courts. There were multiple attempts to renew the ban, but none succeeded, the Lubys shooting in October 1991, which left 23 people dead and 27 wounded, was another factor. The July 1993101 California Street shooting also contributed to passage of the ban, the shooter killed eight people and wounded six. Two of the three firearms he used were TEC-9 semi-automatic handguns with Hellfire triggers, in November 1993, the proposed legislation passed the U. S. Senate. The bills author, Dianne Feinstein and other advocates said that it was a version of the original proposal. In May 1994, former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and they cited a 1993 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll that found 77 percent of Americans supported a ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of such weapons. Rep. Jack Brooks, then chair of the House Judiciary Committee, the National Rifle Association opposed the ban. In November 1993, NRA spokesman Bill McIntyre said that weapons are used in only 1 percent of all crimes. The low usage statistic was supported in a 1999 Department of Justice brief, the legislation passed in September 1994 with the assault weapon ban section expiring in 2004 due to its sunset provision. The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Act was enacted as part of the Violent Crime Control, the prohibitions expired on September 13,2004. The Act prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of assault weapons as defined by the Act. Weapons banned were identified either by specific make or model, or by specific characteristics that slightly varied according to whether the weapon was a pistol, rifle, the Act also prohibited the transfer and possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices. This list was not exhaustive and the act provided that the absence of a firearm from the exempted list did not mean it was banned unless it met the definition of assault weapon. The Act also exempted any firearm that is operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action, has been rendered permanently inoperable. It did not affect similar but domestically manufactured rifles, semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following, Folding or telescoping stock Pistol grip Detachable magazine. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action and the Violence Policy Center both used the term in publications they released in September 2004 when the ban expired, the term was repeated in several stories after the 2012 Aurora shooting and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. A February 2013 Congressional Research Service report to Congress said that the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 was unsuccessfully challenged as violating several constitutional provisions, the report said that challenges to three constitutional provisions were easily dismissed

10.
Colt's Manufacturing Company
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Colts Manufacturing Company is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt. It is the corporation to Colts earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colts earliest designs played a role in the popularization of the revolver. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones. The most famous Colt products include the Colt Walker, made 1847 in the facilities of Eli Whitney Jr. Though they did not develop it, for a long time Colt was also responsible for all AR-15 and M16 rifle production. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including the Colt Commando family, in 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colts Manufacturing Company. Colts Manufacturing Company now serves the market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military. The two companies remained in the same West Hartford, Connecticut location cross-licensing certain merchandise before reuniting in 2013, following the loss of its M4 contract in 2013, Colt was briefly in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, starting in 2015. Samuel Colt received a British patent on his design for a revolver in 1835. That same year, he founded his first corporation for its manufacture, the first firearm manufactured at the new Paterson plant, however, was the Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle beginning in 1837. This was followed thereafter in late 1837 by the introduction of the Colt Paterson. This corporation suffered quality problems in production, making firearms with interchangeable parts was still rather new, and it was not yet easy to replicate across different factories. Interchangeability was not complete in the Paterson works, and traditional gunsmithing techniques did not fill the gap entirely there, the Colt Paterson revolver found patchy success and failure, some worked well, while others had problems. The United States Marine Corps and United States Army reported quality problems with these earliest Colt revolvers, production had ended at the New Jersey corporation by 1842. Colt made another attempt at revolver production in 1846 and submitted a prototype to the US government, during the Mexican–American War, this prototype was seen by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker who made some suggestions to Colt about making it in a larger caliber. Having no factory or machinery to produce the pistols, Samuel Colt collaborated with the Whitney armory of Whitneyville and this armory was run by the family of Eli Whitney. Eli Whitney Jr, the son of the patriarch, was the head of the family armory

11.
Magazine (firearms)
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A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines can be removable or integral to the firearm, the magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action of the firearm. The detachable magazine is often referred to as a clip, although this is technically inaccurate, magazines come in many shapes and sizes, from those of bolt-action express rifles that hold only a few rounds to drum magazines for self-loading rifles that can hold one hundred rounds or more. Various jurisdictions ban what they define as high-capacity magazines, with the increased use of semi-automatic and automatic firearms, the detachable box magazine became increasingly common. Soon after the adoption of the M1911 pistol, the magazine was settled on by the military and firearms experts. The defining difference between clips and magazines is the presence of a mechanism in a magazine, typically a spring-loaded follower. Use of the clip to refer to detachable magazines is a point of strong disagreement. The first mass-produced repeater was the Volcanic Rifle which used a bullet with the base filled with powder and primer fed into the chamber from a spring-loaded tube called a magazine. It was named after a building or room used to store ammunition, the anemic power of the Rocket Ball ammunition used in the Volcanic doomed it to limited popularity. The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action, breech-loading, tubular magazine fed rifle, designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860, it was one of the first firearms to use self-contained metallic cartridges. The Henry was introduced in the early 1860s and produced through 1866 in the United States by the New Haven Arms Company and it was adopted in small quantities by the Union in the Civil War and favored for its greater firepower than the standard issue carbine. Many later found their way West and was famed both for its use at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and being the basis for the iconic Winchester rifle which are made to this day. The Henry and Winchester rifles would go on to see service with a number of militaries including Turkey, switzerland and Italy adopted similar designs. The first magazine-fed firearm to achieve success was the Spencer repeating rifle. The Spencer used a magazine located in the butt of the gun instead of under the barrel. The Spencer was successful, but the rimfire ammunition did occasionally ignite in the magazine tube and it could also injure the user. The new bolt-action rifles began to favor with militaries in the 1880s and were often equipped with tubular magazines. The Mauser Model 1871 was originally a single-shot action that added a magazine in its 1884 update

12.
ArmaLite
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ArmaLite, or Armalite, is an American small arms engineering company founded in the early 1950s in Hollywood, California. It ceased business in the 1980s, the company was revived in 1996. Their first design, the AR1 Parasniper from 1952, used foam-filled fiberglass furniture and this was little used, but when they were asked to compete in a contest for an aircrew survival rifle their AR-5 and AR-7 designs from 1956 saw production use. This was followed by an invitation to compete for the new rifle for US forces. The AR-10 lost the 1957 contest, but many of its ideas were reused in the smaller and lighter AR-15, tired of repeated failures in the market, Fairchild licensed the AR-10 and AR-15 designs to Colt, and the AR-10 to a Dutch company. They sold their interest in Armalite in 1962 and that year, Colt sold the AR-15 to the US Air Force to arm base security troops. Commercial models were sent to Special Forces in Vietnam, who reported great success with the weapon. This led to its being adopted as the Armys main combat rifle starting in 1964 and it has remained the USs primary combat rifle in one form or another to this day, and was adopted by many NATO countries in the 1980s. Armalite had further brushes with success, especially with the AR-18 and these were not enough to keep the company going, and they ceased operations in the early 1980s. The design rights and name were purchased in 1996 by Mark Westrom, in 2013, Westrom sold Armalite, Inc. to Strategic Armory Corps, who also owns AWC Silencers, Surgeon Rifles, Nexus Ammo, and McMillan Firearms. Strategic Armory Corps was formed with the goal of acquiring and combining market-leading companies within the firearms industry, in 2014, 3-Gun Champion Tommy Thacker was appointed president. In 2015, Armalite introduced 18 new products including AR-10 and M-15 platform firearms, Armalite began as a small arms engineering concern founded by George Sullivan, the patent counsel for Lockheed Corporation, and funded by Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. On October 1,1954, the company was incorporated as the Armalite Corporation, with its limited capital and tiny machine shop, Armalite was never intended to be an arms manufacturer. Armalite was instead focused on producing small arms concepts and designs to be sold or licensed to other manufacturers, Stoner was a Marine in World War II and an expert with small arms. Since the early 1950s, he had been working at a variety of jobs while building gun prototypes in his spare time, at the time, Armalite Inc. was a very small organization. With Stoner as chief engineer, Armalite quickly released a number of interesting rifle concepts. The first Armalite concept to be adopted for production was the AR-5, the AR-5 was adopted by the U. S. Air Force as the MA-1 Survival Rifle. A civilian survival weapon, the AR-7, was introduced, chambered in.22 Long Rifle

13.
Assault rifle
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An assault rifle is a selective-fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles were first used during World War II, examples include the StG44, AK-47 and the M16 rifle. However, other sources dispute that Hitler had much to do with coining the new name besides signing the production order, the StG44 is generally considered the first selective fire military rifle to popularize the assault rifle concept. Today, the assault rifle is used to define firearms sharing the same basic characteristics as the StG44. The U. S. Army defines assault rifles as short, compact, in a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle, It must be capable of selective fire. It must have a cartridge, more power than a pistol. Its ammunition must be supplied from a box magazine. It must have a range of at least 300 metres. Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are not assault rifles. For example, Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles, their range is only 200 yards. Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles, semi-automatic-only rifles like variants of the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles, they do not have select-fire capabilities. Semi-auto rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles, selective fire rifles like the Fedorov Avtomat which in hindsight could be classified as prototypical assault rifles. However,6. 5x50mm Arisaka is still very much a full-powered rifle cartridge and they would soon develop a select-fire intermediate powered rifle combining the firepower of a submachine gun with the range and accuracy of a rifle. The result was the Sturmgewehr 44, which the Germans produced in large numbers and it fired a new and revolutionary intermediate powered cartridge, the 7. 92×33mm Kurz. This new cartridge was developed by shortening the standard 7. 92×57mm Mauser round and giving it a lighter 125-grain bullet, a smaller lighter cartridge also allowed soldiers to carry more ammunition to support the higher consumption rate of automatic fire. The Sturmgewehr 44 features an inexpensive, easy-to-make, stamped steel design and this weapon was the prototype of all successful automatic rifles. The barrel and overall length were shorter than a traditional rifle, on July 15,1943, a Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the Peoples Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets soon developed the 7. 62×39mm M43 cartridge, the semi-automatic SKS carbine, shortly after World War II, the Soviets developed the AK-47 assault rifle, which would quickly replace the SKS in Soviet service

14.
ArmaLite AR-15
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The ArmaLite AR-15 is a selective-fire,5. 56×45mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle, with a rotating bolt and straight-line recoil design. It was designed above all else to be an assault rifle. It was based on the Armalite AR-10 rifle, after modifications, the new redesigned rifle was subsequently adopted by the United States military as the M16 Rifle, which went into production in March 1964. The Armalite AR-15 is the parent of a variety of AR-15 variants, however, early experiments with select-fire versions of the M1 Garand proved disappointing. During the Korean War, the select-fire M2 Carbine largely replaced the gun in US service. However, combat experience suggested that the.30 Carbine round was under-powered, american weapons designers concluded that an intermediate round was necessary, and recommended a small-caliber, high-velocity cartridge. This culminated in the development of the 7. 62×51mm NATO cartridge, the U. S. also adopted the M60 general purpose machine gun. Its NATO partners adopted the FN FAL and HK G3 rifles, as well as the FN MAG, the first confrontations between the AK-47 and the M14 came in the early part of the Vietnam War. Battlefield reports indicated that the M14 was uncontrollable in full-auto and that soldiers could not carry enough ammo to maintain fire superiority over the AK-47, and, while the M2 Carbine offered a high rate of fire, it was under-powered and ultimately outclassed by the AK-47. A replacement was needed, A medium between the traditional preference for high-powered rifles such as the M14, and the firepower of the M2 Carbine. As a result, the Army was forced to reconsider a 1957 request by General Willard G. Wyman, continental Army Command to develop a.223 caliber select-fire rifle weighing 6 lb when loaded with a 20-round magazine. This request ultimately resulted in the development of a version of the ArmaLite AR-10. In 1959, ArmaLite sold its rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 to Colt due to financial difficulties, after a Far East tour, Colt made its first sale of Colt made ArmaLite AR-15 rifles to Malaya on September 30,1959. Colt manufactured their first batch of 300 select-fire Colt ArmaLite AR-15 Model 01 rifles in December 1959, Colt marketed the Colt made ArmaLite AR-15 rifle to various military services around the world. In July 1960, General Curtis LeMay was impressed by a demonstration of the ArmaLite AR-15, in the summer of 1961, General LeMay was promoted to United States Air Force, Chief of Staff, and requested 80,000 AR-15s. In October 1961, William Godel, a man at the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The reception was enthusiastic, and in 1962, another 1,000 AR-15s were sent, United States Army Special Forces personnel filed battlefield reports lavishly praising the AR-15 and the stopping-power of the 5.56 mm cartridge, and pressed for its adoption. The damage caused by the 5.56 mm bullet was believed to be caused by tumbling due to the slow 1 in 14-inch rifling twist rate

15.
Trademark
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The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, for the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. A trademark identifies the owner of a particular product or service. The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy, the owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action, the United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still, common law trademarks offer the holder in general less legal protection than registered trademarks. A trademark may be designated by the symbols, ™ ℠ ® A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these categories, such as those based on colour, smell. Trademarks which are considered offensive are often rejected according to a nations trademark law, the term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well-known characteristics of celebrities. When a trademark is used in relation to services rather than products, it may sometimes be called a service mark, in other words, trademarks serve to identify a particular business as the source of goods or services. The use of a trademark in this way is known as trademark use, certain exclusive rights attach to a registered mark. Different goods and services have been classified by the International Classification of Goods, in trademark treatises it is usually reported that blacksmiths who made swords in the Roman Empire are thought of as being the first users of trademarks. Other notable trademarks that have used for a long time include Löwenbräu. The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, the first modern trademark laws emerged in the late 19th century. In France the first comprehensive system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the Manufacture. In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it an offense to imitate anothers trade mark with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud. In 1875 the Trade Marks Registration Act was passed which allowed formal registration of marks at the UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trade mark, in the United States, Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870

16.
ArmaLite AR-10
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The AR-10 is a 7. 62×51mm NATO battle rifle developed by Eugene Stoner in the late 1950s at ArmaLite, then a division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation. Over its production life, the original AR-10 was built in small numbers. In 1957, the basic AR-10 design was rescaled and substantially modified by ArmaLite to accommodate the.223 Remington cartridge, ArmaLite licensed the AR-10 and AR-15 designs to Colt Firearms. The AR-15 eventually became the M16 rifle, ArmaLite began as a small engineering concern founded by George Sullivan, the patent counsel for Lockheed Corporation, and funded by Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. On October 1,1954, the company was incorporated as the ArmaLite Corporation, with its limited capital and tiny machine shop, ArmaLite was never intended to be an arms manufacturer. The company focused on producing small arms concepts and designs to be sold or licensed to other manufacturers, at the time, ArmaLite Inc. was a very small organization. With Stoner as chief engineer, ArmaLite quickly released a number of interesting rifle concepts. The first prototypes of the 7.62 mm AR-10 emerged during 1955, at the time the United States Army was in the midst of testing several rifles to replace the obsolete M1 Garand. Springfield Armorys T44E4 and heavier T44E5 were essentially updated versions of the Garand chambered for the new 7.62 mm round, the AR-10 prototypes featured a straight-line stock design, rugged elevated sights, an oversized aluminum flash suppressor and recoil compensator, and an adjustable gas system. For a 7. 62mm NATO rifle, the AR-10 prototype was incredibly lightweight at only 6.85 lbs. empty, initial comments by Springfield Armory test staff were favorable, and some testers commented that the AR-10 was the best lightweight automatic rifle ever tested by the Armory. Unfortunately for ArmaLite, the rifles aluminum/steel composite barrel burst in a torture test conducted by Springfield Armory in early 1957, ArmaLite quickly replaced it with a conventional steel barrel, but the damage had been done. The final Springfield Armory report advised against adoption of the rifle, Army infantry forces urgently required a modern, magazine-fed infantry rifle to replace the M1. In the end the Army chose the conventional T44, which entered production as the M14 rifle in 1957. That same year, ArmaLite completed about 50 production AR-10 rifles at its workshop for use as models for its sales agents, including Samuel Cummings. Attempts to rush completion of fifty rifles resulted in a few units that were assembled with improperly machined barrel extensions. These production rifles built at ArmaLites workshop in Hollywood would later become known as the Hollywood model, on July 4,1957, Fairchild ArmaLite sold a five-year manufacturing license for the AR-10 to the Dutch arms manufacturer, Artillerie Inrichtingen. With its large factory and production facilities, A. I. could produce the ArmaLite rifle in the quantities for which Fairchild expected orders would be forthcoming. In 1957 Cummings secured an order of 7,500 AR-10 rifles from Nicaragua, the order was contingent on a successful completion of a 7, 500-round endurance test

17.
Breech-loading weapon
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A breech-loading gun is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel. Modern mass production firearms are breech-loading, early firearms, on the other hand, were almost entirely muzzle-loading. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the gun without exposing themselves to fire or repositioning the piece. The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech and this was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge. For firearms too large to use cartridges, the problem was solved by the development of the interrupted screw, breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century. The breech-loading swivel gun had a rate of fire, and was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century, Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century, one such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain, and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid. It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge, patrick Ferguson, a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Later on into the century there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition, the cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly, Pauly made an improved version, which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. In 1846 another Paris Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier, patented the first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell, Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the.22 BB, the first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming. The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech and it was so called because of its. 5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under von Dreyse and eventually a version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies, specifically, however, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866

18.
Arsenal
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An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury or armory are mostly regarded as synonyms, although differences in usage exist. A sub-armory is a place of storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition. From Italian, arsenale, and French, arsenal, from Arabic, دار تعبئة‎‎, dār a-tabiya, in a second-class arsenal, the factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations. If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, the importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large fortress. The usual subdivision of branches in a great arsenal is into storekeeping, under construction, Gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory, small-arms factory, harness and tent factory, powder factory, etc. In a second-class arsenal there would be instead of these factories. Frederick Taylor introduced command and control techniques to arsenals, including the U. S. s Watertown Arsenal, armorer Dresden Armory Halifax Armoury Harpers Ferry Armory Kremlin Armoury Royal Arsenal Royal Armouries Springfield Armory Zeughaus Magazine

19.
Interchangeable parts
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Interchangeable parts are parts that are, for practical purposes, identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting and this interchangeability allows easy assembly of new devices, and easier repair of existing devices, while minimizing both the time and skill required of the person doing the assembly or repair. Additional innovations included jigs for guiding the machine tools, fixtures for holding the workpiece in the proper position, modern machine tools often have numerical control which evolved into CNC when microprocessors became available. Methods for industrial production of parts in the United States were first developed in the nineteenth century. The term American system of manufacturing was sometimes applied to them at the time, within a few decades such methods were in use in various countries, so American system is now a term of historical reference rather than current industrial nomenclature. Evidence of the use of parts can be traced back over two thousand years to Carthage in the First Punic War. Carthaginian ships had standardized, interchangeable parts that came with assembly instructions akin to tab a into slot b marked on them. In East Asia during the Warring States period and later the Qin Dynasty, bronze crossbow triggers and locking mechanisms were mass-produced and made to be interchangeable. One of the accomplishments of the system was that solid cast cannons were bored to precise tolerances, however, because cores were often off center, the wall thickness determined the size of the bore. Standardized boring allowed cannon to be shorter without sacrificing accuracy and range because of the fit of the shells. It also allowed standardization of the shells, before the 18th century, devices such as guns were made one at a time by gunsmiths, and each gun was unique. If one single component of a firearm needed a replacement, the entire firearm either had to be sent to a gunsmith for custom repairs. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the idea of replacing these methods with a system of manufacture was gradually developed. The development took decades and involved many people, Gribeauval provided patronage to Honoré Blanc, who attempted to implement the Système Gribeauval at the musket level. By around 1778, Honoré Blanc began producing some of the first firearms with interchangeable flint locks, Blanc demonstrated in front of a committee of scientists that his muskets could be fitted with flint locks picked at random from a pile of parts. Muskets with interchangeable locks caught the attention of Thomas Jefferson through the efforts of Honoré Blanc when Jefferson was Ambassador to France in 1785. President George Washington approved of the idea, and by 1798 a contract was issued to Eli Whitney for 12,000 muskets built under the new system

20.
Pistol grip
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For firearms, the pistol grip is generally used by the hand that operates the trigger. Rifles and shotguns without pistol grips are generally referred to as having straight or upland style stocks, some firearms, such as some versions of the Thompson submachine gun, have a forward pistol grip which is used to stabilize the firearm in operation. The pistol grip often serves multiple functions such as a housing, bipod. In some firearms, like the Finnish light machine gun Kk 62, pistol grips are a defining feature in United States gun law. A forward pistol grip on a pistol is restricted under the National Firearms Act, pistol grips which protrude below the weapon and are not integrated with the shoulder stock are currently regulated in some states and were regulated by the now-expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban. In the context of law, the National Rifle Association deemed pistol grips a cosmetic feature. Tools with pistol grips run the range from hand saws to pneumatic nailers, often the word gun appears in the name of pistol-gripped tools such as the glue gun, caulking gun and nail gun. A number of tools, like firearms, have a pistol grip. Drills and grinders often include this feature for added control, one of the reasons the pistol grip style is so common in machinery is because it is possible to ergonomically position the operating controls. The first rifle ever to use a pistol grip was the DELVIGNE PATENT carbine made by LESOINNE ET PIRLOT FILS, LIEGE in 1840

21.
Trigger (firearms)
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A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the firing sequence of a firearm or crossbow, a trigger may also start another mechanism such as a trap or a quick release. A small amount of energy applied to the causes the release of much more energy. In double action firearm designs, the trigger is used to cock the firearm -. Firearms use triggers to initiate the firing of a cartridge in the chamber of the weapon. This is accomplished by actuating a striking device through a combination of spring and kinetic energy operating through a pin to strike. There are two types of striking mechanisms, hammers and strikers. Hammers are spring-tensioned masses of metal that pivot on a pin when released, strikers are, essentially, spring-loaded firing pins that travel on an axis in-line with the cartridge eliminating the need for a separate hammer. The connection between the trigger and the hammer is generally referred to as the sear surface, variable mechanisms will have this surface directly on the trigger and hammer or have separate sears or other connecting parts. There are numerous types of action, where action refers to the mechanism or to the logic of how it is built and they are categorized according to which functions the trigger is to perform. Most modern firearms use the trigger to deactivate passive safeties but this does not change how they are identified, a single-action trigger is the earliest and mechanically simplest of trigger types. Almost all rifles and shotguns use this type of trigger, the term single-action wasnt in use until weapons with double-action triggers were invented, which didnt occur until the mid-19th century, before that, all triggers were single-action. Although these weapons dont require the user to physically cock the hammer, manually cocked hammers lasted a while longer in some break-action shotguns, and in dangerous game rifles, where the hunter didnt want to rely on an unnecessarily complex or fragile weapon. In modern usage, the terms single-action and double-action almost always refer to handguns, while a single-action revolver or semi-automatic must always be cocked prior to firing, most double-action handguns are capable of firing in both single- and double-action modes. Only double-action only weapons are incapable of firing from a cocked hammer. Thereafter, every time a round is fired, the hammer is recocked by the cycling slide, after the first shot, they would fire as single-actions. These double action, or double action, pistols rapidly gained popularity. A double-action/single-action firearm combines the features of both mechanisms, and is called traditional double-action. In simple terms, double-action refers to a gun trigger mechanism that both cocks the hammer and then releases the sear, thus performing two actions, hence double action

22.
Hammer (firearms)
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The hammer is the term given to the part of a firearm that converts stored up potential energy into the initial source of energy to fire a projectile. It is so called due to the fact that it resembles a hammer in both form and function, the hammer itself is a metal piece that forcefully rotates about a pivot point. In firearms, the weapon is held in a cocked state. When in this state, the hammer has been pulled back, once the hammer has been released, it snaps back into its unprimed position and strikes one of various mechanisms to ignite the gunpowder and fire the projectile. Many firearms in modern times employ a system wherein a hammer comes into contact with a firing pin after it has released from its primed state by the pull of the trigger. Many modern firearms have the ability by choice of the user or by design to automatically prime the hammer by pulling the trigger and these are often called double action triggers, for they both prime the hammer and release it in the same motion. Other modern weapons still allow the option for the user to manually prime the hammer, in doing so, the user reduces the pull force needed to discharge the weapon, for no additional work must be done to prime the hammer when firing. The issue quickly arose of how to ignite the gunpowder while maintaining the weapon’s aim at the target. Initially, the problem was solved by using a “slow match”, the smoldering end of the rope would then be manually brought into contact with the gunpowder through a touch hole in the barrel of the weapon when the user was ready to shoot. It proved difficult for the shooter to keep the weapon aimed and level as well as ignite the gunpowder with the slow match. The first step to a true hammer system arose shortly after the introduction of the slow match and it acted as an arm, known as a serpentine, that held the lit slow match. When the trigger was pulled, the arm would swing forward from its cocked state via potential energy stored in a spring and bring the lit match into contact with the gunpowder. The weapon could be utilized with increased accuracy, since the shooter could maintain both hands on the weapon, by 1509, the wheellock system arose to solve some difficulties of the matchlock system, though it was a very expensive system. The wheellock system used a piece of pyrite attached to an arm called a dogshead that would be brought into contact with a wheel that rotated when the trigger was pulled. This would, in turn, shower sparks upon the gunpowder, the wheellock represented a major advancement, for it removed the need for maintaining a continually lit slow match which could go out or give off the shooter’s location in a time of need. Following the introduction of the matchlock, the flintlock was introduced in the mid-1600s and this would also cause pieces of steel to flake off and ignite due to the friction thereby igniting the gunpowder. This method was far less expensive that the wheellock system. In 1822, the system was replaced with what can be called the first hammer system

23.
Stock (firearms)
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Stocks are also found on crossbows though a crossbow stock would be more properly referred to as a tiller. The stock provides a means for the shooter to support the device. The stock also transmits recoil into the shooters body, the term stock in reference to firearms dates to 1571 is derived from the Germanic word stoc, meaning tree trunk, referring to the wooden nature of the gunstock. Early hand cannons used a simple stick fitted into a socket in the end to provide a handle. The modern gunstock shape began to evolve with the introduction of the arquebus, a matchlock with a longer barrel and an actual lock mechanism, unlike the hand-applied match of the hand cannon. Firing a hand cannon requires careful application of the match while simultaneously aiming, with both hands available to aim, the arquebus could be braced with the shoulder, giving rise to the basic gunstock shape that has survived for over 500 years. This greatly improved the accuracy of the arquebus, to a level that would not be surpassed until the advent of rifled barrels, techniques for gunstock hand weapons are being revived by martial arts such as Okichitaw. A gunstock is broadly divided into two parts, the rear portion is the butt and front portion is the fore-end. The butt is further divided into the comb, heel, toe, the stock pictured is a thumbhole style. The most basic breakdown of types is into one-piece and two piece stocks. A one piece stock is a unit from butt to fore-end. Two piece stocks use a piece for the butt and fore-end, such as that commonly found on break open shotguns. Traditionally, two stocks were easier to make, since finding a wood blank suitable for a long one piece stock is harder than finding short blanks for a two piece stock. The grip area is one that varies widely, the semi-grip stock is perhaps the most common sporting stock, with a steeper angle cut into the stock to provide a more diagonal angle for the trigger hand. Modern target style stocks have moved towards a fuller, more vertical grip, though built into the rather than made as a separate piece. Anschütz stocks, for example, use a vertical grip. Sliding or folding stocks are often seen on military-grade weapons and their civilian-derived arms, a collapsible stock makes the weapon more compact for storage or transport, but is usually deployed before shooting for better control. These stocks are used on combat shotguns like the Franchi SPAS-12 to allow the stock to collapse when not in use

24.
Hinge
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A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about an axis of rotation. Hinges may be made of material or of moving components. In biology, many joints function as hinges like the elbow joint, there are many types of door hinges. The main types include, Spring hinge which is a hinge made to provide assistance in the closing or the opening of the hinge leaves. A spring is a component of a hinge, that force to secure a hinge closed or keep a hinge opened. Barrel hinge which is a sectional barrel secured by a pivot, pivot hinges which pivot in openings in the floor and the top of the door frame. Also referred to as a double-acting floor hinge and this type is found in ancient dry stone buildings and rarely in old wooden buildings. These are also called haar-hung doors and they are a low cost alternative for use light weight doors. Butt/Mortise hinges usually in threes or fours, which are inset into the door, most residential hinges found in the U. S. are made of steel, although mortise hinges for exterior doors are often made of brass or stainless steel to prevent corrosion. Case hinges Case hinges are similar to a butt hinge however usually more of a nature most commonly used in suitcases, briefcases. Continuous hinges, or piano hinges This type of hinge is also known as a piano hinge and it runs the entire length of the door, panel, or box. Continuous hinges are manufactured with or without holes and these hinges also come in various thicknesses, pin diameters, and knuckle lengths. Concealed hinges Used for furniture doors and they are made of two parts, One part is the hinge cup and the arm, the other part is the mounting plate. Also called cup hinge, or Euro hinge, as they were developed in Europe, most such concealed hinges offer the advantage of full in situ adjustability for standoff distance from the cabinet face as well as pitch and roll by means of two screws on each hinge. Butterfly hinges, or Parliament Hinges These were known as dovetail hinges from the 17th century onwards and can be found on old desks and cabinets from about 1670 until the 18th century. The form of these hinges varied slightly between manufacturers, and their size ranged from the large for heavy doors to the tiniest decorative hinge for use on jewellery boxes. Many hinges of this type were exported to America to support the home trades limited supply and they are still found to be both fairly cheap and decorative, especially on small items

25.
Bolt (firearms)
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A bolt is a mechanical part of a firearm that blocks the rear of the chamber while the propellant burns, but moves out of the way to allow another cartridge or shell to be inserted in the chamber. In an automatic or semi-automatic firearm, the bolt cycles back, when it moves back, the extractor pulls the spent casing from the chamber. When it moves forward, it strips a cartridge from the magazine, once the case is clear of the chamber, the ejector kicks the case out of the firearm. The extractor and firing pin are often parts of the bolt. The slide of a pistol is a form of bolt. Breechblock Open bolt Closed bolt Firearm action Slamfire Rotating bolt Telescoping bolt Full Auto describes the function of the bolt in detail

26.
Gun barrel
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A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore

27.
Sight (device)
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A sight is a device used to assist aligning or aim weapons, surveying instruments, or other items by eye. Sights can be a set or system of markers that have to be aligned together as well as aligned with the target. They can also be optical devices that allow the user to see the image of an aiming point in the same focus as the target. These include telescopic sights and reflector sights, There are also sights that project an aiming point onto the target itself, such as laser sights. At its simplest, a sight typically has two components, front and rear aiming pieces that have to be lined up, sights such as this can be found on many types of devices including weapons, surveying and measuring instruments, and navigational tools. On weapons, these sights are usually formed by rugged metal parts, giving them the iron sights. On many types of weapons they are built-in and may be fixed, adjustable, or marked for elevation, windage, target speed and they are also classified in forms of notch or aperture. Optical sights use optics that give the user an image of an aiming point or pattern superimposed at the same focus as the target. Telescopic sights are used on a range of devices including guns, surveying equipment. These sights have been around for over 100 years and been used on all types of weapons, reflector sights were first used as a weapon sight in German aircraft towards the end of World War I. Collimator sight Holographic weapon sight There are many types of sighting devices and they can be fixed, mechanical, optical, computational, or a mixture of all of these attributes

28.
Gas-operated reloading
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Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms. In gas operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to extract the spent case, energy from the gas is harnessed through either a port in the barrel or a trap at the muzzle. Most current gas systems employ some type of piston, the face of the piston is acted upon by combustion gas from a port in the barrel or a trap at the muzzle. Early guns such as Brownings flapper prototype, the Bang rifle and this, combined with more massive operating parts, reduced the strain on the mechanism. To simplify and lighten the firearm, gas from nearer the chamber needed to be used and this high pressure and has sufficient force to destroy a firearm unless it is regulated somehow. Most gas-operated firearms rely on tuning the gas port size, mass of operating parts, several other methods are employed to regulate the energy. The M1 carbine incorporates a short piston, or tappet. This movement is restricted by a shoulder recess. Excess gas is then vented back into the bore, the M14 rifle and M60 GPMG use the White expansion and cutoff system to stop gas from entering the cylinder once the piston has traveled a short distance. Most systems, however, vent excess gas into the atmosphere through slots, holes, a gas trap system involves trapping combustion gas as it leaves the muzzle. This gas impinges on a surface that converts the energy to motion that, hiram Maxim patented a muzzle-cup system in 1884 described in U. S. Patent 319,596 though it is if this firearm was ever prototyped. John Browning used gas trapped at the muzzle to operate a flapper in the earliest prototype gas-operated firearm described in U. S, the Danish Bang rifle used a muzzle cup blown forward by muzzle gas to operate the action through transfer bars and leverage. Other gas-trap rifles were early production US gas-trap M1 Garands, German Gewehr 41 and these systems are longer, heavier, dirtier and more complex than later gas-operated firearms. Despite these disadvantages, they used relatively low gas and did not require a hole in the barrel. The American and German governments both had requirements that their guns operated without a hole being drilled in the barrel, both governments would first adopt weapons and later abandon the concept. All US M1 Garand rifles were retrofitted with long-stroke gas pistons, with a long-stroke system, the piston is mechanically fixed to the bolt group and moves through the entire operating cycle. This system is used in such as the Bren light machine gun, AK-47, Tavor, FN Minimi, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, FN MAG, FN FNC

29.
Smokeless powder
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Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery that produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the black powder they replaced. The basis of the term smokeless is that the products are mainly gaseous. Despite its name, smokeless powder is not completely free of smoke, while there may be little noticeable smoke from small-arms ammunition, since the 14th century gunpowder was not actually a physical powder, and smokeless powder can be produced only as a pelletized or extruded granular material. Smokeless powder allowed the development of modern semi- and fully automatic firearms and lighter breeches, burnt black powder leaves a thick, heavy fouling that is hygroscopic and causes rusting of the barrel. The fouling left by smokeless powder exhibits none of these properties and this makes an autoloading firearm with many moving parts feasible. However, they are used as propellants, in normal use. Before the widespread introduction of smokeless powder the use of black powder caused many problems on the battlefield, Military commanders since the Napoleonic Wars reported difficulty with giving orders on a battlefield obscured by the smoke of firing. Verbal commands could not be heard above the noise of the guns, unless there was a strong wind, after a few shots, soldiers using black powder ammunition would have their view obscured by a huge cloud of smoke. Snipers or other concealed shooters were given away by a cloud of smoke over the firing position, black powder is also corrosive, making cleaning mandatory after every use. Likewise, black powders tendency to produce severe fouling caused actions to jam, nitroglycerine was synthesized by the Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1847. Nitroglycerine is also sensitive, making it unfit to be carried in battlefield conditions. A major step forward was the discovery of guncotton, a nitrocellulose-based material and he promoted its use as a blasting explosive and sold manufacturing rights to the Austrian Empire. Guncotton was more powerful than gunpowder, but at the time was once again somewhat more unstable. John Taylor obtained an English patent for guncotton, and John Hall & Sons began manufacture in Faversham, English interest languished after an explosion destroyed the Faversham factory in 1847. Small arms could not withstand the pressures generated by guncotton, Abel patented this process in 1865 when the second Austrian guncotton factory exploded. After the Stowmarket factory exploded in 1871, Waltham Abbey began production of guncotton for torpedo, in 1863, Prussian artillery captain Johann F. E. Schultze patented a small-arms propellent of nitrated hardwood impregnated with saltpeter or barium nitrate. Prentice received an 1866 patent for a powder of nitrated paper manufactured at Stowmarket. In 1871, Frederick Volkmann received an Austrian patent for a version of Schultze powder called Collodin

30.
Pump action
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A pump-action or slide-action firearm is one in which a forend can be moved forward and backward in order to eject a spent round of ammunition and to chamber a fresh one. It is much faster than a bolt-action and somewhat faster than a lever-action, once fired, the forend is slid rearward by hand and the expended cartridge ejected. It is then reloaded by manually moving the forend to the front, the first slide action patent was issued to Alexander Bain of Britain in 1854. This technique is called a slamfire, and was used in conjunction with the M1897 in the First World Wars trench warfare. Semi-automatic shotguns must use some of the energy of each round fired to cycle their actions, in addition, like all manual action guns, pump-action guns are inherently more reliable than semi-automatic guns under adverse conditions, such as exposure to dirt, sand, or climatic extremes. Thus, until recently, military combat shotguns were almost exclusively pump-action designs, the cycling time of a pump-action is quite short. The manual operation gives a pump-action the ability to cycle rounds of varying power that a gas or recoil operated firearm would fail to cycle. The simplicity of the relative to a semi-automatic design also leads to improved durability. It has also noticed that the time taken to work the action allows the operator to identify and aim on a new target. However, most are not truly ambidextrous, as the spent casing is ejected out the side in most designs, like most lever-action rifles, most pump-action shotguns and rifles do not use a detachable magazine. This makes for slow reloading, as the cartridges have to be inserted individually into the firearm, however, some pump action shotguns and rifles, such as the Russian Zlatoust RB-12, Italian Valtro PM5 and the American Remington 7600 series use detachable box magazines. A pump-action firearm is fed from a tubular magazine underneath the barrel. The rounds are fed in one by one through a port in the receiver, a latch at the rear of the magazine holds the rounds in place in the magazine until they are needed. If it is desired to load the gun fully, a round may be loaded through the port directly into the chamber, or cycled from the magazine. Pump shotguns with box magazines or even drums exist. Nearly all pump-actions use a motion of the forend to cycle the action. The forend is connected to the bolt by one or two bars, two bars are considered reliable because it provides symmetric forces on the bolt and pump. The motion of the back and forth in a tubular magazine model will also operate the elevator

31.
Bias against left-handed people
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Bias based on handedness is bias or design, conscious or not, usually against people who are left-handed. Part of this is due to design in the world which is often right-hand biased, handwriting is one of the biggest sources of actual disadvantage for left-handed people, other than for those forced to work with certain machinery. These may include school desks, kitchen implements, and tools ranging from simple scissors to hazardous machinery such as power saws, beyond such neglect, however, left-handed people have been subjected to deliberate discrimination and discouragement. In certain societies, they may be considered unlucky or even malicious by the right-handed majority, many languages still contain references to left-handedness to convey awkwardness, dishonesty, stupidity, or other undesirable qualities. Among Incas left-handers were called lloqe which has positive value, peoples of the Andes consider left-handers to possess special spiritual abilities, including magic and healing. The Third Sapa Inca—Lloque Yupanqui—was left-handed and his name, when translated from Quechua, means the glorified lefthander. However, Lloque was also known as The Unforgettable Left-Handed One due to his reportedly horrifying ugliness, in the Chinese language, the character for left, 左, depicts a left hand attending to its work. In contrast, the character for right, 右, depicts a hand in relation to the mouth. In tantra Buddhism, the hand represents wisdom. In early Roman times, the side retained a positive connotation. The negative meaning was subsequently borrowed into Latin from Greek, in Russian, levsha became a common noun for skilled craftsman, after the title character from The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea written in 1881 by Nikolai Leskov. In the context of BDSM and Leather culture, the side is traditionally associated with dominance. Flagging on the left indicated one was the performer of a rather than the recipient. The unfavorable associations and connotations of the use of the left hand among cultures are varied. In some areas, in order to preserve cleanliness where sanitation was an issue, the hand, as the dominant hand of most individuals, was used for eating, handling food. The left hand would then be used for hygiene, specifically after urination and defecation. These rules were imposed on all, no matter their dominant hand, through these practices, the left hand became known as the unclean hand. Currently, amongst Muslims and in some societies including Nepal and India it is customary to use the left hand for cleaning oneself with water after defecating

32.
Selective fire
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Selective fire means the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, multi-short burst, and/or automatic firing mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector which varies depending on the weapons design, some selective-fire weapons have burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum number of shots fired automatically in this mode. The most common limits are two or three rounds per trigger pull, fully automatic fire refers to the ability for a weapon to fire continuously until either the feeding mechanism is emptied or the trigger is released. Semi-automatic refers to the ability to fire one round per trigger pull and this capability is most commonly found on assault rifles and military weapons of the 20th and 21st centuries. Early attempts at this technology were hindered by one or both of two obstacles, over-powerful ammunition and mechanical complexity, the latter led to excessive weight and unreliability in the firearm. Another is the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle developed during the first World War, the BAR and its subsequent designs incorporated a variety of selective-fire functions. The selector lever is located on the side of the receiver and is simultaneously the manual safety. The next version had a unique rate-of-fire reducer mechanism purchased from FN Herstal with two rates of automatic fire and this reducer mechanism was later changed to one designed by the Springfield Armory. The final version provided two selectable rates of automatic fire only. During World War II the Germans began development of the function which resulted in the FG42 battle rifle developed in 1942 at the request of the German Air Force in 1941. Another German design that used selective fire was the StG44 that was the first of its kind to see major deployment and is considered by historians to be the first modern assault rifle. The selective-fire function was seen in the Russian AK-47, the British EM-2. This allows for rapid and aimed fire, in some weapons, the selection is between different rates of automatic fire and/or varying burst limiters. The selection is often by a small rotating switch often integrated with the safety catch or a separate from the safety. This is useful for situations where a rapid volley of rounds is more effective for suppressing a close enemy rather than a single-round burst. The current U. S. standard assault rifle, the M16A4, in this design, it retains the count of previously fired rounds and may fire fewer than three rounds. Other designs reset the count with each pull, allowing a uniform three-round burst as long as rounds remain. A common version of the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun fires single shots, three-round-bursts, a special variant uses a two-round-burst to minimize the chances of missing with a third round

33.
Semi-automatic firearm
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A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm, is one that performs all steps necessary to prepare it to discharge again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the firearms feed device. Typically, this includes extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge case from the chamber, re-cocking the firing mechanism. For the other forms, the mechanism would require cycling manually prior to firing the next round. An automatic or a selective-fire firearm set to fire automatically would be able to discharge continuously as long as the trigger is held until the magazine or feed device runs out of ammunition. Obviously, this additional feature complicates the design of the sear and disconnector, the first successful design for a semi-automatic rifle is attributed to German-born gunsmith Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher, who unveiled the design in 1885. The Model 85 was followed by the equally innovative Mannlicher Models 91,93 and 95 semi-automatic rifles.5 mm ammunition that were fed into the M1894 by a stripper clip. The Auto-5 relied on long recoil operation, this remained the dominant form in semi-automatic shotguns for approximately 50 years. Production of the Auto-5 was ended in 1999, in 1903 and 1905, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company introduced the first semi-automatic rimfire and centerfire rifles designed especially for the civilian market. The Winchester Model 1903 and Winchester Model 1905 operated on the principle of blowback in order to function semi-automatically, johnson, the Model 1903 achieved commercial success and continued to be manufactured until 1932 when the Winchester Model 63 replaced it. Winchester introduced a medium caliber semi-automatic sporting rifle, the Model 1907 as an upgrade to the Model 1905, utilizing a system of operation. Both the Models of 1905 and 1907 saw limited military and police use, in 1906, Remington Arms introduced the Remington Auto-loading Repeating Rifle. Remington advertised this rifle, renamed the Model 8 in 1911 and this is a locked-breech, long recoil action designed by John Browning. The Model 81 superseded the Model 8 in 1936 and was offered in.300 Savage as well as the original Remington calibers, the first semi-automatic rifle adopted and widely issued by a major military power was the Fusil Automatique Modele 1917. This is a breech, gas-operated action which is very similar in its mechanical principles to the future M1 Garand in the United States. The M1917 was fielded during the stages of WWI but it did not receive a favorable reception. However its shortened and improved version, the Model 1918, gave complete satisfaction during the Moroccan Rif War from 1920 to 1926, the Lebel bolt-action rifle remained the standard French infantry rifle until replaced in 1936 by the MAS-36 despite the various semi-automatic rifles designed between 1918 and 1935. In 1937, the American M1 Garand was the first semi-automatic rifle to replace its nations bolt-action rifle as the infantry weapon. The gas-operated M1 Garand was developed by Canadian-born John Garand for the U. S. government at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, after years of research and testing, the first production model of the M1 Garand was unveiled in 1937

34.
Automatic firearm
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An automatic firearm continuously fires rounds as long as the trigger is pressed or held and there is ammunition in the magazine/chamber. In contrast, a semi-automatic firearm fires one round with each individual trigger-pull, use of this convention can avoid confusion. Firearms are further defined by the type of action used. Self-loading firearms are designed with varying rates of fire due to having different purposes, the speed with which a self-loading firearm can cycle through the functions of, Fire Eject Load Cock is called the cyclic rate. In fully automatic firearms the cyclic rate is tailored to the purpose that the gun is made to serve, anti-aircraft machine guns often have extremely high rates of fire to maximize the probably of a hit. In infantry support weapons these rates of fire are often much lower, the MG34 is a WWII era machinegun which today would be referred to as a General Purpose Machinegun. It came in variations with a cyclic rate as high as 1200 rounds per minute. Firing any firearm generates a high temperature in the firearms barrel. If fired too fast, the components of the firearm will suffer a structural failure and this means that all firearms, regardless of whether they are semi-automatic, fully automatic, or burst mode in their firing methods, will overheat and fail if fired too often. This is especially a problem with fully automatic fire, in actual use, a gun might be able to fire at 1200 rounds per minute, but in one minute it may also overheat and fail. So guns used in a firing mode must not be fired too often. The MG34 is fired manually in bursts of 5 to 7 rounds and it can fire at an effective rate of 150 rounds per minute. Semi-automatic firearms will also overheat if not allowed to cool, a semi-automatic rifle typically has an effective firing rate of 40 rounds per minute. A large part of the reason that this is so low, is that the recoil of firing a round pushes the guns aim off target, the time it takes to reacquire the target slows the effective firing rate. The Army Study Guide lists the rate of fire for an M4 Assault Rifle at 12 to 15 rounds per minute. Automatic firearms can be divided into six categories, Assault rifle The standard type of service rifles in most modern armies. Battle rifle A heavier-caliber type of rifle that some classify as an assault rifle while others see them as a class of their own. Automatic shotgun A type of combat shotgun that is capable of firing shotgun shells automatically, usually also semi-automatically, machine gun A large group of heavier firearms used for automatic fire of rifle ammunition, usually attached to a mount or supported by a bipod

35.
Burst mode (weapons)
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This firing mode is commonly used in submachine guns, assault rifles and carbines. Other types of firearms, such as machine pistols may also have a burst mode, the burst mode is normally employed as an intermediate fire mode between semi-automatic and fully automatic, although some firearms lack a full auto capability and use a burst mode instead. For instance, the M16A4 has, in addition to the mode, a three-round burst mode. The reason for replacement was the massive waste of ammunition. The number of rounds fired in a burst is almost universally determined by a cam mechanism that trips the mechanism for each shot in the burst. Some designs, as employed on the M16 series, will terminate the burst if the trigger is released before the burst is complete, thus, the next time the trigger is pulled, the weapon will only fire one or two rounds. Other designs, such as the mechanism found on Heckler & Koch weapons, thus, the next burst will still fire a full number of rounds. Some firearms, like the AN-94, have hyperburst, a feature in which rounds are fired in quick succession. Selective fire Automatic firearm Bump fire, a technique to simulate full-automatic fire from a semi-automatic firearm

36.
M4 carbine
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The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5. 56×45mm NATO, air-cooled, direct impingement gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine and it has a 14.5 in barrel and a telescoping stock. The M4 carbine is used by the United States Armed Forces and is replacing the M16 rifle in most United States Army. The M4 is also capable of mounting the M203 and M320 grenade launchers, the distinctive step in its barrel is for mounting the M203 with the standard hardware. The M4 is capable of firing in semi-automatic and three-round burst modes, while the M4A1 is capable of firing in semi-auto, following the adoption of the M16 rifle, carbine variants were also adopted for close quarters operations. The CAR-15 family of weapons served through the Vietnam War, nevertheless, as a short-range weapon it is quite adequate and thus, its caliber, is classed as a submachine gun. In 1988, Colt began work on a new design called the XM4 combining the best features of the Colt Commando. The XM4 was given a longer 14. 5-inch barrel with the M16A2s 1,7 inch rifle twist, the extended barrel improved the XM4s ballistics, reduced muzzle blast and gave the XM4 the ability to mount a bayonet and the M203 grenade launcher. The XM4 was also given the M16A2s improved rear sight and cartridge deflector, in 1994, the U. S. military officially accepted the XM4 into service as the M4 carbine to replace M16A2s in certain roles. The United States Marine Corps has ordered its officers and staff non-commissioned officers to carry the M4 carbine instead of the M9 handgun and this is in keeping with the Marine Corps doctrine, Every Marine a rifleman. The Marine Corps, however, chose the full-sized M16A4 over the M4 as its infantry rifle. United States Navy corpsmen E5 and below are also issued M4s instead of the M9, as of 2013, the U. S. Marine Corps had 80,000 M4 carbines in their inventory. By July 2015, major Marine Corps commands were endorsing switching to the M4 over the M16A4 as the infantry rifle. Approval of the change would move the M16 to support personnel, in October 2015, Commandant Robert Neller formally approved of making the M4 carbine the primary weapon for all infantry battalions, security forces, and supporting schools in the U. S. Marine Corps. The switch is to begin in early 2016 and be completed by September 2016, on 1 July 2009, the U. S. Army took complete ownership of the M4 design. This allowed companies other than Colt to compete with their own M4 designs, the Army planned on fielding the last of its M4 requirement in 2010. On 30 October 2009, Army weapons officials proposed a series of changes to the M4 to Congress, requested changes included an electronic round counter that records the number of shots fired, a heavier barrel, and possibly replacing the direct impingement system with a gas piston system. The benefits of this, however, have come under scrutiny from both the military and civilian firearms community. S

37.
National Firearms Act
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The National Firearms Act, 73rd Congress, Sess. 1236, enacted on June 26,1934, currently codified as amended as I. R. C. 53, is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms, the Act was passed shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. The NFA is also referred to as Title II of the Federal firearms laws, the Gun Control Act of 1968 is Title I. All transfers of ownership of registered NFA firearms must be done through the federal NFA registry, the NFA also requires that permanent transport of NFA firearms across state lines by the owner must be reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Temporary transport of items, most notably silencers, do not need to be reported. Like the current National Firearms Act, the 1934 Act required NFA firearms to be registered and taxed, the $200 tax was quite prohibitive at the time. With a few exceptions, the tax amount is unchanged, conventional pistols and revolvers were ultimately excluded from the Act before passage, but other concealable weapons were not. Under the original Act, NFA weapons were machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, any other weapons, minimum barrel length was soon amended to 16 inches for rimfire rifles and by 1960 had been amended to 16 inches for centerfire rifles as well. The United States Supreme Court, in 1968 decided the case of Haynes v. United States in favor of the defendant, as one could possess an NFA firearm and choose not to register it, and not face prosecution due to Fifth Amendment protections, the Act was unenforceable. To deal with this, Congress rewrote the Act to make registration of existing weapons impossible except by the government, the National Firearms Act of 1934 defines a number of categories of regulated firearms. These weapons are known as NFA firearms and include the following. Both continuous fully automatic fire and burst fire are considered machine gun features, the weapons receiver is by itself considered to be a regulated firearm. Short-barreled rifles This category includes any firearm with a buttstock and either a barrel less than 16 long or an overall length under 26. The overall length is measured with any folding or collapsing stocks in the extended position, the category also includes firearms which came from the factory with a buttstock that was later removed by a third party. Short barreled shotguns This category is defined similarly to SBRs, silencers This includes any portable device designed to muffle or disguise the report of a portable firearm. This category does not include non-portable devices, such as sound traps used by gunsmiths in their shops which are large, many AOWs are disguised devices such as pens, cigarette lighters, knives, cane guns and umbrella guns. AOWs can be pistols and revolvers having smooth bore barrels designed or redesigned to fire a shotgun shell

38.
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight
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Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights are a series of telescopic sights manufactured by Trijicon. The ACOG was originally designed to be used on the M16 rifle and M4 carbine, models provide fixed power magnification levels from 1. 5× to 6×. ACOG reticles are illuminated at night by an internal phosphor, some versions have an additional daytime reticle illumination via a passive external fiber optic light pipe or are LED-illuminated using a battery. The ACOG is available in a variety of configurations from the manufacturer with different reticles, illumination, most ACOGs do not use batteries for reticle illumination, being designed to use internal phosphor illumination provided by the radioactive decay of tritium. The tritium illumination has a life of 10–15 years. Some versions of the ACOG have an additional daytime reticle illumination via a passive external fiber optic light pipe, reticles have other features such as a bullet drop compensator and other different reticle shapes such as chevrons. Some ACOG models incorporate rudimentary ghost ring iron sights as a backup for targets that are within 50 m, most ACOG models, when mounted to a carry handle, have an open space through the mount to allow the use of the rifles iron sights without removing the scope. Others include Docter or Trijicon reflex sights mounted on top, the ACOG ECOS line features both of these secondary sighting systems on the same scope. Other features include Picatinny rails, flip caps, and the ability to be waterproof up to 11 m, although the ACOG is designed for the Picatinny rail of the M16A4 and M4, it can be mounted on the carrying handles of previous models by using a special adapter. Several ACOG models are designed to be used with the Bindon Aiming Concept, the technique is essentially using the illuminated part of the reticle and its focusing rear eyepiece as a collimator sight. In this both-eyes-open technique the brain superimposes the aiming reticle on the target, an added part of the technique is to shift focus after acquisition to the dominant eye/telescopic image for more accurate shooting. This overcomes the problem of centering or acquiring fast traversing targets common with all telescopic sights, only certain models of the ACOG are designed with bright enough daylight-lit fiber optic or battery-powered LED reticles that facilitate this technique. Greece, Hellenic Army Commandos and SFs United Kingdom, British Army, United States, United States armed forces, various law enforcement agencies. This sight is designated the M150 Rifle Combat Optic in Army service, after an October 2005 evaluation, the USMC fielded 115,000 ACOGs so that every rifle and every carbine in the Marine Corps inventory would be equipped with one. Other Trijicon models have seen service after being purchased at the unit. Trijicon has been the subject of criticism for inscribing a reference to a Bible verse alongside the model numbers on their ACOG sights. Starting in late 2009, Trijicon began shipping sights to the U. S. military without the Bible verse, sight SUSAT, 4× telescopic sight with tritium-powered illumination similar to the ACOG Article on the Trijicon ACOG An italian article about TA44S

39.
.223 Remington
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The.223 Remington is a rifle cartridge. The name is pronounced either two-twenty-three or two-two-three Remington. It is commercially loaded with 0.224 inch diameter jacketed bullets, with weights ranging from 40 to 85 grains, a 90 gr Sierra Matchking bullet is available for reloaders. The.223 Rem was first offered to the sporting market in December 1963 in the Remington 760 rifle. In 1964 the.223 Rem cartridge was adopted for use in the Colt M16 rifle which became a standard rifle of the U. S. Army. The military version of the uses a 55 gr full metal jacket boattail design and was designated M193. In 1980 NATO modified the.223 Remington into a new design which is designated 5. 56×45mm NATO type SS109, the cartridge and rifle were developed as one unit by Fairchild Industries, Remington Arms, and several engineers working toward a goal developed by U. S. Early development work begins in 1957, a project to create a Small Caliber High Velocity firearm is created. Eugene Stoner of Armalite is invited to scale down the AR-10 design, Winchester is also invited to participate. It was then known as the.224 Springfield, concurrently with the SCHV project Springfield armory is developing a 7.62 mm rifle. Harvey is ordered to cease all work on the SCHV to avoid any competition of resources, eugene Stoner of Armalite had been advised to produce a scaled down version of the 7.62 mm AR-10 design. In May 1957 Stoner gives a live demonstration of the prototype of the AR-15 for General Wyman. As a result, CONARC orders rifles to test, Stoner and Sierra Bullets Frank Snow begin work on the.222 Remington cartridge. Using a ballistic calculator they determine that a 55 grain bullet would have to be fired at 3, robert Hutton starts development of a powder load to reach the 3,300 fps goal. He uses DuPont IMR4198, IMR3031 and an Olin Powder to work up loads, testing is done with a Remington 722 rifle with a 22 Apex Barrel. During a public demonstration the round penetrates the US steel helmet as required. But testing shows chamber pressures to be excessively high, Stoner contacts both Winchester and Remington about increasing the case capacity. Remington creates a larger cartridge which is called the.222 Special which is loaded with DuPont IMR4475 powder,1958, During parallel testing of the T44E4 and the AR-15 the T44E4 experiences 16 failures per 1,000 rounds fired compared to 6.1 for the AR-15

40.
Polymer
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A polymer is a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits. Because of their range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure, Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. The units composing polymers derive, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low molecular mass. The term was coined in 1833 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, though with a distinct from the modern IUPAC definition. The modern concept of polymers as covalently bonded macromolecular structures was proposed in 1920 by Hermann Staudinger, Polymers are studied in the fields of biophysics and macromolecular science, and polymer science. Polyisoprene of latex rubber is an example of a polymer. In biological contexts, essentially all biological macromolecules—i. e, proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides—are purely polymeric, or are composed in large part of polymeric components—e. g. Isoprenylated/lipid-modified glycoproteins, where small molecules and oligosaccharide modifications occur on the polyamide backbone of the protein. The simplest theoretical models for polymers are ideal chains, Polymers are of two types, Natural polymeric materials such as shellac, amber, wool, silk and natural rubber have been used for centuries. A variety of natural polymers exist, such as cellulose. Most commonly, the continuously linked backbone of a used for the preparation of plastics consists mainly of carbon atoms. A simple example is polyethylene, whose repeating unit is based on ethylene monomer, however, other structures do exist, for example, elements such as silicon form familiar materials such as silicones, examples being Silly Putty and waterproof plumbing sealant. Oxygen is also present in polymer backbones, such as those of polyethylene glycol, polysaccharides. Polymerization is the process of combining many small molecules known as monomers into a covalently bonded chain or network, during the polymerization process, some chemical groups may be lost from each monomer. This is the case, for example, in the polymerization of PET polyester, the distinct piece of each monomer that is incorporated into the polymer is known as a repeat unit or monomer residue. Laboratory synthetic methods are divided into two categories, step-growth polymerization and chain-growth polymerization. However, some methods such as plasma polymerization do not fit neatly into either category

41.
Corrosion
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Corrosion is a natural process, which converts a refined metal to a more chemically-stable form, such as its oxide, hydroxide, or sulfide. It is the destruction of materials by chemical and/or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engineering is the dedicated to controlling and stopping corrosion. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metal in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen or sulfur, rusting, the formation of iron oxides, is a well-known example of electrochemical corrosion. This type of damage typically produces oxide or salt of the original metal, corrosion can also occur in materials other than metals, such as ceramics or polymers, although in this context, the term degradation is more common. Corrosion degrades the useful properties of materials and structures including strength, appearance and permeability to liquids, many structural alloys corrode merely from exposure to moisture in air, but the process can be strongly affected by exposure to certain substances. Corrosion can be concentrated locally to form a pit or crack, because corrosion is a diffusion-controlled process, it occurs on exposed surfaces. As a result, methods to reduce the activity of the surface, such as passivation and chromate conversion. However, some corrosion mechanisms are less visible and less predictable, in a galvanic couple, the more active metal corrodes at an accelerated rate and the more noble metal corrodes at a slower rate. When immersed separately, each metal corrodes at its own rate, what type of metal to use is readily determined by following the galvanic series. For example, zinc is used as a sacrificial anode for steel structures. Galvanic corrosion is of major interest to the industry and also anywhere water contacts pipes or metal structures. Factors such as size of anode, types of metal. The surface area ratio of the anode and cathode directly affects the corrosion rates of the materials, galvanic corrosion is often prevented by the use of sacrificial anodes. In any given environment, one metal will be more noble or more active than others. Two metals in electrical contact share the same electrons, so that the tug-of-war at each surface is analogous to competition for free electrons between the two materials. Using the electrolyte as a host for the flow of ions in the same direction, the resulting mass flow or electric current can be measured to establish a hierarchy of materials in the medium of interest. This hierarchy is called a series and is useful in predicting and understanding corrosion

42.
Wood warping
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Wood warping is a deviation from flatness in timber as a result of stresses and uneven shrinkage. Warping can also occur in wood considered dry, when it takes up moisture unevenly, or – especially – is allowed to return to its dry equilibrium state unevenly, too slowly, winding sticks assist in viewing this defect. Wood warping costs the industry in the U. S. millions of dollars per year. Straight wood boards that leave a cutting facility sometimes arrive at the store yard warped and this little understood process is finally being looked at in a serious way. Although wood warping has been studied for years, the warping control model for manufacturing composite wood hasnt been updated for about 40 years, drunken trees Forest pathology WoodWeb – Warp in Drying Society of American Foresters – Warped Wood

43.
Safety (firearms)
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In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to help prevent the accidental discharge of a firearm, helping to ensure safer handling. Safeties can generally be divided into such as internal safeties. Sometimes these are called passive and active safeties, respectively, some firearms manufactured after the late 1990s include mandatory integral locking mechanisms that must be deactivated by a unique key before the gun can be fired. These integral locking mechanisms are intended as child-safety devices during unattended storage of the firearm—not as safety mechanisms while carrying, other devices in this category are trigger locks, bore locks, and gun safes. The most common form of safety mechanism is a switch, button or lever that, other designs may block the hammer or striker from forward movement or act as a block to prevent them from contacting the firing pin. The M1911 design is an example of a handgun with a grip safety. The Uzi submachine gun is another example of a firearm with a grip safety, a related grip-type safety is the decocking grip found on some H&K pistols like the P7 Series. The firearm is cocked and ready to fire only when the front of the grip is squeezed by the operator. When the grip is released, the firearm is decocked, and the trigger will not cock the firearm, therefore it will not fire unless the grip is squeezed. Alternatively, the trigger can first be pulled and then it will fire when the grip is subsequently squeezed, finally, if both the grip is squeezed and the trigger pulled simultaneously, the pistol will fire. Another, unusual variant was found in the Ortgies semi-automatic pistols, to disengage the safety, a user would squeeze a lever until flush with the rear of the grip. Thus, engaging the safety also relieved some tension in the striker spring, as the Ortgies is a pocket pistol meant for personal defense, this feature eliminates the problem of failing to disengage the safety when one needs to shoot. Gripping the pistol tightly is all it takes to disengage the safety, most traditional semi-automatic double-action/single action pistols are designed to be carried with the hammer down on a chambered round, with or without a manual safety engaged. However, the act of cycling the action on such a firearm will leave the hammer cocked in single-action mode. To return the pistol to its state, it is necessary to uncock the hammer, usually by holding the hammer spur, carefully pulling the trigger. A decock/safety is a manual safety switch and decocking lever. A simpler two-way system was popularized by the Walther PP and is commonly seen on the Beretta 92. The SIG Sauer line of pistols, such as the SIG P226, the earliest use of a single-action decocker was the Vis wz.35 Radom redesign in 1932 to enable horsemen to safely holster their firearm with one hand

44.
Bolt action
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Bolt-action firearms are most often rifles, but there are some bolt-action shotguns and a few handguns as well. Examples of this date as far back as the early 19th century. From the late 19th century, all the way through both World Wars, the rifle was the standard infantry firearm for most of the worlds militaries. Bolt-action firearms are still popular for hunting and target shooting. The first bolt-action rifle was produced in 1824 by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, von Dreyse would perfect his Nadelgewehr by 1836, and it was adopted by the Prussian Army in 1841. It however was not the first bolt-action weapon to see combat as it was not fielded until 1864, during the American Civil War, the bolt-action Palmer carbine was patented in 1863, and by 1865,1000 were purchased for use as cavalry weapons. The French Army adopted its first bolt-action rifle, the Chassepot rifle, in 1866, ultimately the military turned to bolt-action rifles using a box magazine, the first of its kind was the M1885 Remington–Lee, but the first to be generally adopted was the British 1888 Lee–Metford. World War I marked the height of the bolt-action rifles use, there are, however, many semi-automatic sniper rifle designs, especially in the designated marksman role. Today, bolt-action rifles are used as hunting rifles. These rifles can be used to hunt anything from vermin, to deer, to game, especially big game caught on a safari. Bolt-action shotguns are considered a rarity among modern firearms, but were formerly a commonly used action for.410 entry-level shotguns, as well as for low-cost 12 gauge shotguns. The M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System is the most advanced and recent example of a bolt-action shotgun, some pistols utilize a bolt action, although this is uncommon, and such examples are typically specialized target handguns. Most of the bolt-action designs involve the shooters doing a turn + pull handle movement to open the bolt, cock the firing pin, there are three major turning bolt-action system designs, the Mauser system, the Lee–Enfield system, and the Mosin–Nagant system. The vast majority of bolt-action rifles utilize one of three systems, with other designs seeing only limited use. The Mauser system is stronger than that of the Lee–Enfield due to two locking lugs just behind the head which make it better able to handle higher pressure cartridges. The 8×68mm S and 9. 3×64mm Brenneke magnum rifle cartridge families were designed for the Mauser M98 bolt action. A novel safety feature was the introduction of a locking lug present at the rear of the bolt that normally did not lock the bolt. The Mauser system features cock on opening, meaning the upward rotation of the bolt when the rifle is opened cocks the action, a drawback of the Mauser M98 system is that it cannot be cheaply mass-produced very easily

Early types of breech loaders from the 15th and 16th century on display at the Army Museum in Stockholm.

Henry VIII breech loading hunting gun, 16th century. The breech block rotates on the left on hinges, and is loaded with a reloadable iron cartridge. Thought to have been used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. The original wheellock mechanism is missing.

Breech-loading firearm that belonged to Philip V of Spain, made by A. Tienza, Madrid circa 1715. It came with a ready-to-load reusable cartridge. This is a miquelet system.

The plate of the Martin ejector seat of a military aircraft, stating that the design is covered by multiple patents in Britain, South Africa, Canada and "others". Dübendorf Museum of Military Aviation.

The Venetian Patent Statute, issued by the Senate of Venice in 1474, and one of the earliest statutory patent systems in the world.

The double-crescent trigger on the MG 34, which enabled select fire capability without using a selector switch. Pressing the upper segment of the trigger produced semi-automatic fire, while holding the lower segment of the trigger produced fully automatic fire.